LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow/Characters/Order of Flourish/Helene Hawthorn
''Helene Hawthorn * 'Full Name:' Helene Happiness Hallow Harrison'' *''Elemental: Art (paint, wax and abstract stuff)'' *''Sin: Cavum (Emptiness)'' *''Virtue: Humanitas (Kindness)'' "There is nothing more realistic than surrealistic. There is nothing more creepy than a mockery. There is nothing empty than the current emptiness all around me. So empty... So lonely... With the solitude as a lifetime treaty God signed for me. There is nothing more painful, than the loneliness of full, which is now more than handful. My life is so empty to the core, that there is nothing more than just one single word... '''Nevermore'."'' Helene Hawthorn, born Helene Hallow and later renamed herself as Helene Hallow Harrison in honor of both of her parents, is a notable member of the Order of Flourish, being its youngest and shortest member. She is known to the urban legend of Sleepy Hollow as the Mirage of Art. She lives beneath the basement that attached the Mayor's Office to the Art Museum of Sleepy Hollow Historical Society, which was once a former residence of John and Abigail Adams. She is also the keeper of the legendary Stone of Wisdom which contained the memory of her mother, Hestia Hawthorn, who was murdered in that fateful night prior to the infamous Feast of Apollo. Helene is memorable for being the first character in CIS Productions storyline who is inspired by mostly the historical artists, musician and writers in real-life history, instead of real-life historical politicians, military leaders, monarchs or scientists like many other characters are. Helene is an illegitimate child of Hestia "Hawthorn" Hallow and Harold "Honeydew" Harrison, and the latter raised her as his niece after her mother's death by the hand of Phyllis Peach. She is a main character as well as an antagonist turned supporting hero in LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow - Harvest Saga. Despite her status once known to many as presumed death, Helene's Astaroth Future counterpart appeared as one of the supporting heroes in LOTM: Los Reina de Corazónes. Helene is an illegitimate child of Hestia "Hawthorn" Hallow and Harold "Honeydew" Harrison, who had a love affair. However, when Hestia intended to marry Harold, she had found out that Harold had already engaged to someone else. In despair, Hestia tried to poison herself, but was rescued by Harold out of guilty conscience. However, the poisoning had disfigured the fetus inside her. Later, Helene was born with a horrible disfigurement, but her mother loved her dearly, always singing lullaby to her, and her birth father took care of both his lover and his daughter in order to make things right. After the murder of Hestia at the hand of Phyllis Peach, Harold raised the child as his own and look after her alongside Hestia's adoptive daughter, Selina Strawberry. However, when Helene was 8 years old, she eventually discovered her disfigurement and almost went insane because of this awful shock. Helene later received a mask made by Selina, of which she and Harold would feel better when Helene took the mask on. Helene later lived in the underground secret chamber under the Mayor's Office and attached to the Art Museum. Even with her disfigurement, it was undeniable that Helene was a genius on all kind of art, like music, painting and drama. Helene had watched many people and paintings secretly, including all kind of artists and paintings painted by the celebrities, in order to learn from the famous masterpieces and gain knowledge. She later gained many ideas and inspiration from her life as a solitude and drawn many paintings to decorate her own chamber, but the most cherished one was her mother's portrait she drawn after Hestia died. However, when she met Baccarat Blueberry, Helene had her heart brightened by romantic feelings and she befriended the young art student, who was curious about her face beneath the mask. .]]Despite having a kind heart, Helene despise those who disregarded the value of true art and abused the difference between art and vulgarity. She also despised the plagiarist who steals others' idea as well. Like her parents, Helene was skilled in magic, and she combined her magic ability with art to create a pocket dimension inside her paintings, where she hid herself and teleported to elsewhere. At first, Helene held hostility to Ichabod Crane, but his interest in art and his high regard of history and culture made Helena deeply impressed. She later gained respect on Ichabod as well and desired to meet the man. She later became a supporter of Ichabod after Phyllis killed her father, in the same manner when she killed Helene's mother. Desiring revenge upon Phyllis and wanting to save the world from the megalomaniac woman, Helene later joined forces against Phyllis. After Phyllis' death, Helene realized in relief that both of her parents were avenged. In the end, when everything behind the truth of Zodiac Demons were revealed, Helene stood against the corrupt Light Lord and Phyllis who murdered her mother. Helene ended up redeemed and left the underground. Then, she trained herself to become a famed artist in town. She was an OC character created by Officer Candy Apple from CIS Productions. ---- ''#-A Tropes *'Abstract Apotheosis:' Played ''horrifically straight. When the virus inside her started to lose control, Helene had embraced her insanity finally and became an living abstract art monster, who laughed madly and claimed to be art itself like a megalomaniacal monster. She lost her physical form and became nothing but an Eldritch Abomination, which reminded the members from La Nueva Familia de Arzonia of Diabla the Qliphoth Tyrant's final form. *'Achilles' Heel:' If Helene's physical form was injured, this will eventually influenced her Supreme Croatoan Form, and there will be a slight crack on her Croatoan Form, though it can't be detected without a magician. That's why Phyllis' detected the wound of Helene in the latter's physical form and eventually told Jenny about it. Unknown to Phyllis' true nature, Jenny aimed a bazooka at the said wound, blowing it up and eventually causing Helene being defeated, reverted her back to her physical form. *'Affectionate Nickname:' The circus members of Merry Melody calls her solely as "Ringmistress" and says they are grateful for her owning them and giving them a place to stay. *'Affably Evil:' Mad as she is, Helene is also kind and polite in some instance. For example, when she was confronting Dora in retaliation for what the latter did to Baccarat, Helene gave a chance to Dora by making her away from the Art Museum, but the results ends up in bloodshed due to Dora throwing her chance away, even trying to turn Helene into the police. This is Helene's last straw. **''- Helene: Now, here are two choices for you. Either I kill you and present this bouquet in front of your tombstone... or, you leave my Art Museum and never returns!'' **''- Dora: What do you mean? YOUR Art Museum?'' **''- Helene: Yes, this is MY Art Museum, my world, and my everything. This is a hall for the real masters of art and reserved for the real eye of the beholders. I won't allow a boastful creep like you to intrude this hall of splendid masterpieces. If you agree, I will let you go unscathed. I promise---'' **''spat on Helene's face ruthlessly before the latter could finish'' **''- Dora: Bah! What kind of lies are you mumbling about? YOU'RE the one who intrude this place! Therefore, it is YOU who should leave! Get out of here with your hideous bloom! Go back to your stink and wet tomb to rot!'' **''- Helene: dismayed Madame, you left me no choice.'' **''- Dora: No, you left ME no choice! ANYONE CALL THE POLICE! SHE'S HERE...'' **''stabbed Dora with a blade hidden in her bouquet'' **''- Helene: I know that's your heinous act, what you did to Baccarat! I'll make you taste the full severity of his pain you inflicted upon him!'' **''- Dora: No! No, please, spare my life!'' **''- Helene: We're beyond that.'' **''slashed and stabbed Dora multiple times until she was mutilated. Helene then threw the bouquet on Dora's corpse and walked away'' *'Alliterative Name:' H'elene '''H'appiness 'H'allow 'H'arrison, also known as 'H'elene 'H'awthorne. *'''Alliterative Title: H'elene '''H'awthorne, which overlaps as a title. *'''Almighty Idiot: Downplayed. Her first Supreme Croatoan transformation has almost invincible levels of power and is capable of truly horrifying amounts of corruption and Reality-Warping, but her ego has completely collapsed. She can't even remember who or what he is. **Subverted after her first defeat and regained her sense, and her later transformation no longer has a side effect on her memory or her mind. *'Anger Born of Worry:' She never trusts Lillian Lime and believed the latter was trying to have an relationships with Baccarat. Lillian's fidelity was put into doubt once Helene found out other boys from the Art Museum all know Lillian, and one even implied they once had relationships but broke up later. She was really worried that Baccarat would be just another plaything of Lillian, so that made her intensely distrustful to Lillian. *'Anthropomorphic Personification:' Her Supreme Croatoan Form is a personification of a concept of abstract and surreal art style itself. Both Harold and Baccarat, after witnessing Helene's Supreme Croatoan madness, came to a conclusion that instead of becoming art itself, Helene had become despair itself. This made her even more pathetic considering how suck and empty her life was with all those Despair Event Horizons. *'A Rhyme for a Dime:' Many of her dialogues thrives on this, as a special contrary to the Order's overall motif that is filled with Added Alliterative Appeal. *'Art Attacker:' In her pocket dimension, Helene could summon abstract clones of herself as well as body parts to attack her enemies. Her human form also develops art attack after the injection of Supreme Croatoan Virus. Helene might not be a perfect Croatoan Merger, unlike Selina Strawberry who is her adoptive sister that made the virus inside her successfully stabilized. However, Helene sure shows wonderful skills using her virus ability, whether it was her mutated form or her human form. She merged with her beloved abstract art after all, and her fondness of art is source of her skillful art attack. *'Art Imitates Life:' Helene paints her paintings or draw her pictures from her loneliness of life, describing herself as a lonely child full of blue and eager an angel of art to give life and light upon her gloom. She also drew a painting of her late mother, Hestia Hawthorn, whom Baccarat Blueberry - in spite of being a boy instead of a woman - bore striking facial resemblance with Hestia (as well as , which set things more uncanny). *'Art Initiates Life:' She can use such an ability connected to art to transform her body into different art styles in her Supreme Croatoan Monster Form. ''B Tropes *'Badass Boast:' **"Indeed, you are a warrior ever since you're a child... but you can't underestimate me just because of that sore excuse. Understand this... I'M A PAINTER EVER SINCE THE DAY I WAS BORN!!!"'' *'Badass in Charge:' After the Order of Flourish still went on hiding after the actions of STAR LABS of United States of America, Helene is the only known lead magician from the Order that still leads her colleagues to fight against the KnightWalker Family, consider their acts as unforgivable and hideous. *'Berserk Button:' Quite a few. **Anyone who disobeyed her orders and entered her basement without permission will be attacked by her vagrant minions until they escaped or get killed. However, this is not as severe as those who peeked as Helene's own disfigurement. They all ended up murdered by Helene personally. Dora Dorain's own assistant learned the two things above a hard way. **She could not stand the boastful attitude of Dorian, and whenever Dora claimed herself to be a future great artist, Helene would send her minions formed by vagrant to spook her. **Only she can decide whether to mutilate her enemy or not, as she wants to make them artistic, like turning them into wax statues. **Anyone who says ALL clowns are evil shall be berated. **People who calls her and Merry Melody members as "freaks" or "monsters" in an offensive manner? She'll make them taste what was like to be freaks! **Helene believes Baccarat is the only one she had in her life, with the Art Museum she treated as her home had fell into the dust of money in her own view, and she clung on Baccarat so much that she would even kill people who harmed him. *'Beware the Nice Ones:' Helene is cheerful, friendly and naive usually, but if anyone crossed her line (see Berserk Button above), Helene would turned menacing and cold, before instigating all sorts of torture upon those enemies. Lamp-shaded by herself in-universe, saying that clowns cannot give happiness without hiding their sadness behind. *'Bizarre Taste in Food / Paste Eater:' There are scenes where Helene consume molten wax and paint for food. The latter is an allusion to Vincent Van Gogh. *'Blue and Orange Morality:' Helene believes that good and bad are not much distinctive like that of Order and Chaos as well as Beauty and Vulgarity. She never sees her method of turning enemies into was statues as a wrong action. She prefers was over stone statue simply because wax can make her feel warmth and is closer to human feelings. Her morality is based on different views of art which very few of the people would catch on her mind. She describes that her view of morality would evolve as time changes, just like art style. She also claims that her act is not for purging evil, but for expanding collections, even though she's definitely on the heroes' side. Maria believed that Helene did try to stop the KnightWalker Family due to their atrocity, but Helene won't admit it due to her overzealous obsession upon art. *'Bokuko:' In a hypothetical Japanese version, she uses Boku occasionally when she's carefree but switched to Watashi when she is serious. ''C Tropes *'Calling the Old Man Out:' She scolded Harold Honeydew (whom she already knew he was her father) for making a cheater like Dora Dorian into the Art Museum, and she wanted him to leave and never return, even if Harold pledged Helene to bring Baccarat back to Sleepy Hollow. Helene declined ruthlessly and drove her father away. *'Character Development:' Helene started as a crazed and lonely child prodigy of art, who was disgusted by her own hideous disfigurement, plus her jealousy towards the townspeople, and as the result of this, she plunged herself into sadness and despair, becoming an nigh-insane loner as a result. However, Helene later met Baccarat, whom she considered as her Bird of a Feather and reminded her of Hestia Hawthorn (her beloved mother). She grew affection to Baccarat and became much more like a Noble Demon, at least having someone worth fighting for. She later became more and more cheerful as she became closer to Baccarat, starting to become more opened and more optimistic. *'Chekov's Gunman:' During the battle of London, Helene's well-treating towards London children actually paid off when the children pranked the gangsters and stopped them from beating and killing other adults and Arzonia Family members for rewards. Some even dissuade their parents from sparing Arzonia Family, as they already discovered that one of the "targets" were the one who saved their lives and granted them cotton candies. *'Child Prodigy:' She can paint, design and sing in an age of five. According to her father, Helene is a genius who treats the museum as her own artistic domain, being an architect and a designer, a composer and a magician, but still a genius who turned into madness. *'Color-Coded for Your Convenience:' Pink is Helene's primary Color Motif of all. Helene's exclamation words are all written in bright pink (a few of them would be red if she was enraged), as well as her shirt and her hair (when she wanted to). Red is the secondary Color Motif for her, and she dressed up as the Red Death in Edgar Allan Poe's story during her murder of Dora Dorian. *'Cold Ham:' Just as Christine Van Bilj / Kristen Kiwifruit, Helene is proud of her own design in her mind, but she hid her pride deep inside her heart and spoke in a calm tone, knowing that it won't be good to boast her pride loudly. This made her seemed much more modest comparing to Dora Dorian. Her appearance in ''Firenza Junior is prone to Large Ham, however. *'Contralto of Danger:' Normally, in spite of her small build, Helene has a low-pitched voice. However, her voice noticeably pitched up as soon as she became the Supreme Croatoan at the cost of her sanity. *'Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:' Helene Hawthorn, in the first part of her titular story arc, is the first arc villain who is both main protagonist and the main antagonist (although her antagonist role only lasted for a few episodes before the much more vile Gladius Grapefruit came on stage) at her own arc. She is also the first antagonist in Harvest Saga that still remained loyal to the Order of Flourish at the time, while enemies before her were either the traitors or natural enemies to the Order. Helene is also the first major antagonist in the whole CIS Story that have an overall Mad Artist theme and used pure art as her ability, showing more artistic style in her fighting rather than brute force. *'Cool Mask:' Her skin mask is a beautiful face that is true to life. It's perfectly safe if you not tear it down. *'Creepy Child:' When she was a child, though she only became such after she was driven to insanity by her own accursed disfigurement. *'Curtains Match The Windows:' Her eyes and hair are naturally brown, and when they turned pink, they turned in the same time. ''D Tropes *'Daddy's Girl:' Helene confessed her true feelings to her father as a loving daughter who actually knows her father's identity all along and never minded the fact when Harold said he saw her true face before. At first, she was bitter to him, but turned out it was all a Jerk-ass Facade to keep Harold from dangers. *'Daddy's Little Villain:' Downplayed - She acts quite bitter to Harold (who she already figured out that was her father all along), blaming him for the new corrupt management upon the museum and for what happened to the poor Baccarat because of Dora's actions. In spite of this, instead of killing Harold, Helene simply can't do it and only cast him out of the basement, never wanting him to return. *'Dance Battler:' Her fighting style contains a lot of flips and pirouettes, making her look like a fighting ballerina. When she zips around using her glyphs it can also give her the appearance of a figure skater. The dance-like motions, particularly the flourishes and spins, are apparently a part of how her glyphs work; the more complex glyph effects and her controlled summoning require the Ringmistress to make complex movements with her body and sword to quickly create the glyphs and summons. Otherwise Weiss has to hold still and engage in intense concentration over several seconds to create the same effects. *'Dark and Troubling Past:' Having experienced the bitter feelings of losing her mother is already sad enough for an 8-year-old child, but the even more troubling fact is that she saw her face accidentally and was repulsed by her own ugliness, starting to lose all the other meanings in her life except her devotion to artistic world. *'Decomposite Character:' In the old script, Selina is the one who was disfigured and had her artwork being stolen. Helene didn't even exist in the old script. In the revised script, however, those elements on Selina was split out and put onto Helene. *'Despair Event Horizon:' Her sin and motif is known as ''Cavum (Emptiness), also known as sorrow and despair. Helene is born with disfigurement and was forced to stay inside a basement away from the world. The sadness brought by her mother's tragic murder made her mentality even worse. She eventually found hope when she saw Baccarat and heard him sing. After even Baccarat was shocked by her disfigurement, Helene completely lost it. To avoid becoming a Black Demon or a Zodiac Demon due to her own despair, Helene used the Supreme Croatoan Virus, believing that it can consume the Blackness inside her. However, it only made things worse when she turned into a Supreme Croatoan that is mad beyond control, reflecting her despair that she endured for more than a decade. *'Determinator:' Like Selina, Helene shows determination on protecting Baccarat and the Stone of Wisdom from the likes of Phyllis, and she even fought off several police officers in order to protect Baccarat, believing they were harming him. Her ruthless determination eventually made her snapped and lost control on her own Croatoan Virus. *'Doesn't Trust Those Guys:' In Pedro Pineapple Arc, Helene at first showed hostility to Ichabod Crane when he showed up in her circus, and she (under her guise as the Ringmistress) when questioned him if he held any prejudice towards clowns, considering there was a massive clown prank incident in 2016 around different parts of the world (and alas, Truth in Television). ''E Tropes *'Early-Bird Cameo:' In ''Haunting Past Sub Arc, Helene had a cameo while chanting her own version of "One for sorrow" rhymes in her solitude, opening the sub arc. *'Eccentric Artist:' When she doesn't show her sadistic side, she's quite eccentric. *'Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette:' Under her normal form, she is notably pale, has dark brown hair, and is a Creepy Child to boot. *'Eldritch Abomination:' Since she used paints and one of her surreal paintings as her own fusee after injecting herself with SCV, Helene's Supreme Croatoan Form is definitely the MOST GROTESQUE ONE of ALL Supreme Croatoan Forms appeared so far, as she never even have a natural shape to begin with. Her entire body can transform from a human to a walking Grotesque Gallery full of abstract and surreal art. She can suck people inside her pocket dimension and trap the entire town inside it, and she'll appear as a grotesque monster made of abstract art, becoming one with her own pocket dimension!!! *'Everything Sounds Sexier in French:' "Magnifique~❤" *'Evil Counterpart:' To her mother, Hestia. Both the mother and the child has an obsession upon art, but their degrees are different. Helene is extremely obsessive to the art, since she stayed alone with other lost souls like tramps, clowns and rats, and she had nothing else to live for until she met Baccarat. She fell in love utterly desperate, even to the point of becoming sadistic and insane, being willingly to commit murder against anyone who wronged him. Harold stated that Hestia would be horrified and disgusted by how far Helene descent into when he discovered she kept Baccarat in custody and confronted her for this. *'Expy:' She is primarily based on the Phantom of the Opera, especially the counterpart from Yeston musical version of the Phantom, given to her Disappeared Dad status and her detailed past as an illegitimate child. However, the major difference is that Helene did actually get her loved one, with her loved rival gone mad and died in spite of she never really kill her. Her design in her different forms would leave the credits to Haru Okumura from Persona 5 and Ritsuka Tachibana from Dances With Devils. ''F Tropes *'Face Death with Dignity:' Realizing how much monstrosity she had eventually become, Helene urged her father to shot her down as they said, and she never showed fear from the gunshot. She eventually died peacefully in the arms of Baccarat, when he shared his kiss to her in order to comfort her. Helene then closed her eyes in peace. In spite of this, Helene returned back from the dead later. *'Famous Last Words:' In her first death, "Baccarat..." with a smile on her face. *'Fashionable Asymmetry:' Probably having one the most flamboyant battle suits in the Order of Flourish in spite of her modesty. *'The Fashionista:' Her role and attitude when posing as a cloth designer. *'Feminine Women Can Cook:' She taught Maria how to make French desserts and dishes and helped her in cooking as well, saying culinary is a form of art that is infinitely explorable. *'Flower Motif:' ''Crataegus monogyna aka Hawthorn. *'Flowery Insult:' Used against Guinevere in Firenza Junior, with shades of Sophisticated as Hell. **''First:'' ***''- Guinevere: I pity you as well. Having such a weak master must leave you unfulfilled, I would imagine.'' ***''- Helene: There is none who can compare to my Lord's integrity and wisdom. Not that you or your master would even know what that is.'' **''Second:'' ***''- Guinevere: Are your frail circus buddies well? Or have their remains already been scattered to the winds?'' ***''- Helene: My friends are the lights that illuminates this dark, chaotic world, while yours are nothing more than a pack of uncouth mongrels.'' *'Foil:' To Selina Strawberry both physically and emotionally. **Selina is tall, strong, beautiful and having a overly welcomed popularity in her public service, while Helene is short, weak, hideous and had to shunned herself away from the society in loneliness. **Selina is not a prodigy on art but rather in all kinds of sports including acrobatics, while Helene is very good at art but her only good physical skill will be acrobatics. **Selina also once acted warm to Ichabod, but their friendship started to fall into ruins under Phyllis' manipulation (lasted until Selina had a Heel-Face Turn). On the other hand Helene acted completely abrasive to Ichabod at first, but later she developed a fondness to him due to his respect on historical traditions (happened after Helene's Heel-Face Turn). **Both of them survived from their Croatoan Virus Power's fatal influence, but Selina is a perfect merger and gained immortality, but the virus inside Helene is much less stabilized and she can actually aged. **In spite of this, both of them became Ichabod and Abbie's vital allies in their confrontation against Lord Helio and Phyllis. *'Font Anachronism:' Whenever she said something important in her human form, Helene's speech font is changed into a old handwriting style, also in a pink color. Like so: ** - Helene: I'll take care of you. I'll cradle you! I'll protect you from the foul deceit from the world of icy cold, even if the price is my own soul! **In spite of this, the screaming voice whenever she had her face exposed and went into a rage, as well as when she let out after seeing herself being rejected by Baccarat (after showing him her ugliness under his request) used normal fonts in red color. ***''- Helene: EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!'' **Her important dialogs in Croatoan Virus Form have the normal font used on this page, too, in spite of still being pink words. ***''- Helene: Hahahahahahaha... The curse of emptiness is nothing but sheer, unforgiving vileness!'' *'Friends to All Children:' In Firenza Junior, after deflecting several Langdon Orphan soldiers from children, Helene gave them helium balloons and cotton candy for free in order to comfort her. Her keen friendship with several children is a result of herself lacking a feeling from childhood happiness. ''G Tropes *'Genre Savvy:' Given to her travel across the world during the last Period of Tribulations, Helene knows many dark secrets across the world. *'Gratituous Foriegn Language / Gratituous French:' Gratituous French & Gratituous Persian at times. Given to her French-American mother as well as her Persian father, it's justified. *'Grotesque Gallery:' Both figuratively and literally. **Figurative on Helene's true face, that even horrified herself when she saw it for the very first time. **Literally for Helene's Supreme Croatoan Form, for being an eerie art gallery-esque pocket dimension by definition. *'Go Out With a Smile:' In her first death, Helene smiled at Baccarat after he kissed her scarred cheek to show his confession to her, before she passed away. Back From the Dead later. *'Gone Mad From Revelation:' Upon seeing her true face in her reflection from the water surface for the very first time, she was horrified, believing it was a monster beneath the lagoon. After she realized that it was her own reflection, she cried and howled in terror... Poor kid. That's her Start of the Darkness. H Tropes *'Hate at First Sight:' She considered Pedro Pineapple repulsive as soon as she laid eyes upon him. *'Hate Plague:' As revealed by Gladius Grapefruit during his conference, Helene's cynical personality started to grown throughout a decade and took over her rationality, as a result of being together with the accursed Stone of Wisdom and getting influenced by its corrupting influence, before turning murderous, extreme, irrational and even insane as a result. After the end of ''Helene Hawthorn Arc, she is trying to fight off such plague and eventually, she succeeded after being separated from the Stone, becoming bubbly and happy as a result. *'Hidden Depths:' The Firenza Junior spinoff shows many of her hidden heart of sadness beneath her seemly cheerful and Kid-Appealing Character facade, showing her post-Tribulation self as a guilt-driven, serious, selfless and insecure "sad clown" who tried to cheer people up during the war. She also gives balloons and cotton candy to children, who almost had themselves killed by Melancholia's Psycho for Hire, in order to comfort the children. Later, her hidden depths paid back as the children protected Maria and her family from harm's way due to Helene's kindness. *'Hide Your Otherness:' Helene hides her monstrous and hollowed visage behind her mask all the time as she plays her role of a seemly-jovial clown, even in Firenza Junior. *'Homage:' Her personality and original style is based upon Salvatore Dali, but she invented her own style and merged them into her fighting. Sometimes, she's seen carrying a molten clock. ''I Tropes *'I Am Not Left-Handed:' She turned serious and revealed her Supreme Croatoan Form after being cornered by Guinevere Arzonia, much to the latter's surprise when she recognized Helene's condition. *'I Am the Noun:' After her Supreme Croatoan Form's pocket dimension took place, she gone Diabla (when Diabla transformed into her bodiless form) and laughed madly, ''"HAHAHAHAHA... I̩͍̟̱̖̜̰͞͞ ̥̠̯͍̟͙̫̰͜A͞͏̶̬͇̬M̷̜̖̤̭ ̜͖͙̞̣͉̪̻̼͘T̯̭̦̜̹̬̣̮̘͡Ḫ̙̖͎Ḙ̵͙ ͎̺͚̼͍ͅA̜͇̯̼̠̻̲͍R̢̳̝͎͔̻̪̬͇͢T̫͙͇!̼͓́" *'I Just Want to be Beautiful:' In her younger days, Helene shows envious look on beautiful girls and believed their beauty is the reason they're so freed and charismatic, while she herself had to stuck into the darkness and solitude because of her ugliness. *'I Just Want to be Normal:' Helene's greatest fear was people treating her like an abnormal freak, and she wished she would feel affections from more people who would disregard her look and treated her as a friend. *'Impossibly Cool Clothes:' Her changeable cloth that can shift from clown suits to ordinary dress at her own will after she managed to control her ability. *'Incoming Ham:' Whenever she let out strange laugh or started to mention about her favorite paintings and artists, here it comes. *'Ineffectual Loner:' She tries to be cold and antisocial, but the combined influences of the stabilizing Croatoan Virus, Baccarat's attachment and Team Witness' attempts to reach out to her, all make her cold facade crumble. *'Intimate Artistry:' It's actually her forte to draw whoever she's connected with simply with her memory. First, Helene is able to draw an oil painting of her own mother Hestia after the latter's demise, just using her memory with her beloved mother in her mind. Later, she drew a second painting of Baccarat Blueberry. *'Irony:' In spite of hating her ugliness, Helene eventually succumbed into her Supreme Croatoan Virus and became a twisted monster, so incomprehensible that isn't even materialized creature to begin with, let along being beautiful. *'Ironic Nursery Tune:' * Have you seen my face in here? I thought I dropped it elsewhere... * ''J Tropes *'Jerk with a Heart of Gold:' Helene is obsessed and insane, with her soul distorted and twisted as much as her face is, but still, Helene cares for Baccarat deeply and would keep him away from harm. Believing in the young boy's declaration of protection and love, Helene willingly showed Baccarat her true form beneath her mask, in order to fulfill his wish... Also, Helene deeply cared for her mother and had found out the truth behind her mother's death, the truth behind the Feast of Apollo's failure, and Phyllis' true nature, but Helene was afraid that nobody will believe her until it was too late. Helene later turned much more affectionate and is more than willing to help Ichabod Crane to solve troubles. K Tropes *'Kick the Son of a Bitch:' She killed Dora Dorian after the latter refused to leave the Art Museum. Since Dora is nothing more than a corrupt woman who drenches herself in vanity, jealousy and greed, trying to cast out a new artist so that she would gain the fame for herself, her death is well deserved, and Helene never told Baccarat about Dora's true nature so that Baccarat won't taint his own hands in killing. L Tropes *'Lawful Good:' Helene believes in the Order of Flourish's sermon, but she intends to use them as good instead of zealous control, making everyone happy and safe. *'Laughing Mad:' As a creepy version of Perpetual Smiler, Helene often displayed laughter, but her most creepy and mad laugh occurred during her Croatoan transformation. *'Lean and Mean:' Helene is extremely skinny to begin with and shows bitter personality to anyone she never likes. However, the mean personality was a result of the Stone of Wisdom's influence. *'Let Them Die Happy:' Inverted. Baccarat kissed Helene's scarred face after unmasking her, fully ignoring her disfigurement. Receiving warmth and acceptance from the man she loved, Helene died with a dignified smile as her personality returned back to normal. Even so, turned out that it was an act set up by Helene to Come Back From the Dead with the help of the virus inside her, in order to fake her death. *'Loners Are Freaks:' One of the reasons Helene is considered eccentric is that she doesn't make many friends aside from pierrots and rats, as she finds it hard to trust the normal. **- Helene: The normal ones make me afraid, but the crazy make me feel sane.'' *'Look Behind You:' When Ichabod corners her in Magic Hallow, she uses this ploy in order to distract them long enough to get away in her Rainbow Silk form. *'Lovecraftian Superpower:' Merging with her mind control, Helene's Croatoan Virus ability granted herself to become abstract art and attack her enemies with this form, while demonstrating a twisted visual Mind Screw. Only the holy artifact and magic could deal a damage on her, and you need to make sure you actually strike down herself, not her illusions. *'Loves the Sound of Screaming:' She claims that she loves hearing the Black Demons suffer. The Team Witness is understandably a little unnerved. *'Love Rival:' With the more flamboyant and lavish Lillian Lime. ''M Tropes *'Mad Artist:' Her obsession towards art itself is inherited from her mother, but Helene actually brought it Up to Eleven, due to her state of being gone mad from loneliness. *'Madness Makeover:' In the climax of ''Helene Hawthorn Arc's first part, Helene grown more and more broken and shattered as her mentality started to derail, causing her mask getting torn and her make-up becoming shattered, showing her monstrous Nightmare Face. *'Married to the Job:' She is very fixated on what she do as an artist. *'Mirthless Laughter:' Prior to her defrost, Helene's laugh sounds like crying in despair. *'Mind Screw:' This part of personality is a clear reference to Salvador Dali. As if the inherent weirdness of her pocket dimension wasn't enough, many of the familiars formed inside it also employ perspective tricks and optical illusions, so you get different images depending on how far you are from them and what angle you view them at. **In fact, Helene gave herself sleeping problems to "help" her creative process. She usually slept in an armchair holding a spoon over a metal plate; that way, as soon as she had slept enough to relax her muscles, she would wake herself up. Helene claimed that this prevented her from dreaming while asleep, which forced her mind to dream while she was awake... *'Motor Mouth:' When defending arts, she goes on and on with long ramblings. ''N Tropes *'Nightmare Face:' Taking down her mask... Shedding her make up... Et voila, this is what she truly is. *'Nightmare Fetishist:' Helene is pretty much fond of creepy and surreal horror, and she's fond of Edgar Allan Poe's stories and Lovecraft ''Cthulhu Mythos, even stating that she had a fond of Colour Out of Space, being bedazzled by its color and felt curious to colors that Earthlings would never see. *'Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant:' While she isn't acting cheery, Helene is practically a walking Nightmare Fuel who would cause horror striking into people's heart whenever she appeared. *'Noble Demon:' She is considered to be a fair person and is caring towards her friends and loved one, being able to defend them whenever she is needed. *'Normally, I Would Be Dead Now:' Because of her Supreme Croatoan Ability, Helene can endure many attacks that is lethal, as she hid her human from inside her bodiless form. As long as her human form is safe from attack and successfully dodged them, any attack would be fully nullified. However, when her human form was detected, a strong attack would blasted her back to her human form, showing she was never invincible. *'Non-Ironic Clown:' As the Ringmistress, Helene shows herself as a mischievous and yet benevolent harlequin in spite of he eerie-looking mask. *'Neurodiversity Is Supernatural:' Her mental illness were deepen and darken by the Hate Plague caused due the to Stone of Wisdom and Supreme Croatoan Virus. ''O Tropes *'Older than She Looks:' In ''Firenza Junior, Helene is nearly 40 years old, but due to her ability, she can turn her appearance younger and older at wish. Even her true form, with her skin mask, looked like a young woman in her twenties. *'O.O.C is the Serious Business:' In Blaze Banana Arc, the occasionally friendly and heartwarming Helene discovered the true nature of Blaze Banana, who revealed himself to be the one who crippled Macey Irving. She soon turned utterly serious and angrily (albeit in a cold and harsh manner to cast him out). She didn't kill him, since she believed that she cannot insult her cutter knife, so she drove him out so that Katrina would do their work in killing him. **Again in Helene Hawthorn Arc. She used to be fond of outside world, wishing someone will help her to reach the outside world and track down La Gloton. She also fell in love with Baccarat Blueberry and wanted to make him guide her away from darkness and solitude. However, after discovering Baccarat was poisoned by Dora, Helene was forced to trap Baccarat underground and claimed that she would make him stay with her for eternity, believing that the town of Sleepy Hollow - even the outside world - is even more cold-hearted and cruel than La Gloton. ''P Tropes *'Perpetual Smiler:' She's hardly ever seen without a smile on her face. It used to be forced because of her trauma as a hideous recluse, but it later became genuine. Her catchphrase is "Keep smiling." *'Phlebotinum Overload:' Her body and mentality turned out to be weak against the Supreme Croatoan Virus' corruption, and the virus' power was so much that her sanity broke up into pieces. Fortunately, she restored back to normal when the Team Witness hit her weak spot got killed by her father to release her from the sorrow (according to the own plan of Helene). *'Pint-Sized Powerhouse:' She's barely over five feet tall and is amongst the shortest characters in the story, being the shortest member in the Order of Flourish, where almost all of the female members are above average height. In spite of this, Helene's tiny build also gives her advantage in acrobatic skills and gymnastic skills, so that she can sneak into many placed. Helene can do many things Selina cannot because of her height. **After the time-skip in ''LOTM: Star Spangled Crown, Helene grew much taller later due to having a healthier life in the outside world (while keeping her mask on her face) and a more opened personality, now a stunning 1.72m tall young lady, but is still one of the shortest female members of the Order. *'Pink Means Feminine:' Her Color Motif. ''Q Tropes R Tropes *'Real Life Writes the Plot:' In-Universe. Her paintings includes the place she lived, people she met, and of course, the one she loved most - ''her mother. *'Reclusive Artist:' In-Universe. *'Rose-Haired Sweetie:' Her normal hair is born to be pink, and while under normal circumstances, Helene is quite loving and peaceful like a kind and naive child. ''S Tropes *'Sadist:' Due to her Monster Clown streak. She has no problem hanging a dead man's corpse right above the merit crowd and laughing at their terror. *'Sanity Slippage:' Helene took off her mask willingly for the first time when Baccarat claimed he would smile at what Helene truly looked like with no disgust... Turned out it was wrong. Baccarat showed horror at her unmasked face and fled with a scream. Feeling betrayed, Helene covered her face and started wailing, and that's when she had a mental breakdown. *'Scenery Porn:' Her decoration and fake meadow underneath the museum is quite a magnificent state that is very close to nature. Helene invited Baccarat to have a picnic there once she got him underground. *'Sensory Abuse:' Her flashing neon among her Croatoan ability. *'Signature Laugh:' At times, "Ping-pong-hahahahaha", sometimes described as laughter like jingle bells. *'Skyward Scream:' After Baccarat fled in horror at an unmasked Helene. *'Spanner in the Works:' In ''Firenza Junior, Helene's presence and her motive of saving Baccarat Blueberry, her loved one, would be what make Magilou to leave Maria temporarily in order to find Karma Maxwell. It seemed not good for Maria's force especially after Carl's sacrifice and subsequent disappearance, but Magilou assured that Maria would get by. It was revealed in LOTM: Los Reina de Corazónes, that Helene actually guessed the true reason behind Magilou's sudden departure, but Helene never said so because Maria never asked. *'Spotlight Stealing Squad:' Lamp-shaded by Tres Iqus in Firenza Junior as "someone random woman who popped out of nowhere to steal their thunder", but the Langdon Orphans, especially Guinevere, knew better about how and why Helene was against them. *'Starving Artist:' Invoked. Helene's financial support comes from the profits of her circus and Sleepy Hollow Art Museum, with the latter provided by the Persian - the former manager of the museum and secretly Helene's father. In spite of this, Helene gave most of her money to the tramps under her service, while keeping a few for herself in order to purchase paints and canvas. Nevertheless, after the Persian was cast out from his position, Helene lost her financial support and her home. She lamented that she and her circus would be doomed, and thus she was trying to find an angel who can bring her artistic life back into gloom. *'Stepford Smiler:' More often when she tried to hide her sadness, she had to force herself to smile whenever things went south. *'Surreal Horror:' This is her major art motif besides Chinese Paintings, and it is also the primary style of her Supreme Croatoan Form. ''T Tropes *'Tarot Motifs:' IX. "The Hermit" & "Reversed Hermit" **The Hermit Arcana represents a person who is introspective, reclusive, seeks philosophical searches, and understands one's self. The dark side of the arcana is a person is unable to keep to oneself, has complete disregard and no respect for society and is inhumane. *'Theater Phantom:' As she is based on Erik from ''The Phantom of the Opera, she shares traits with such and is considered as a phantom in the museum, overseeing the entire museum's situation. In reality, this proves to be true as Merry Melody is in cooperation with Music Hall, which is also a property to the Historical Society of Hudson Valley. *'Third-Person Person:' At times. *'This Is Unforgivable!:' As soon as she discovered Blaze Banana's true nature as the one who crippled Macey Irving, Helene yelled this bluntly at him. She was utterly disgusted by Blaze's act in stopping Captain Irving to seek out her mother's killer, and she immediately cast him out, cutting off her friendship with him forever. *'Too Much For Man To Handle:' Her Croatoan Virus had crushed her mind and made her into an insane Eldritch Abomination. Her first death managed to subvert this later on, after the virus remained inside her and revived her, and she became more composed with her power due to her death experience. ''U Tropes V Tropes *'Vitriolic Best Buds:' With Ichabod Crane. *'Villainous Breakdown:' In ''Helene Hawthorn Arc, after she tried to escape Art Museum, Helene's mentality gone worsen due to the effects of Supreme Croatoan Virus. She eventually snapped when she accidentally shot Baccarat in despair, and got rejected, attacked and tortured by many townspeople who considered her as a monster. Eventually, it pushed her towards the limits as she started to curse the entire town and cry in despair, horror and pain... before she finally snapped and lost control on the power of virus, before turning into a monstrous and formless entity filled with eerie abstract art. She also lost control in her sanity and laughed all the way like a sick monster. ''W Tropes *'Wham Line:' To the White Wizard... *'With Great Power Comes Great Insanity:' Her Supreme Croatoan Form initially served as this. After turning into her Supreme Croatoan Form for the very first time, Helene's sanity was crushed by her overweight obsession, sadness as well as depression caused by her own solitude that made her eventually snapped. She became an Eldritch Abomination that started Cry Laughing all the way around. When Ichabod found Helene's own form in the dimension, where she did retained enough rationality to speak, but it all turned into a savage ranting. She doesn't seem to have any true vestige of intelligence or sentience anymore, having been driven so Ax-Crazy that it's robbed all but the most basic traits of her personality from her. **Subverted after ''Helene Hawthorn Arc, after she conquered her own despair. Her Supreme Croatoan Form after her change of heart no longer remains irrational. *'Wine is Classy:' She sometimes is show drinking a bottle of claret, champagne or Rosé while relaxing herself. She also shows great interest in French wines, and she dislikes beer since she find it too informal. ''X Tropes Y Tropes *'You Cannot Grasp the True Form:' In ''Firenza Junior, Helene uses her Croatoan ability to assume many forms from beautiful women to Eldritch Abomination, but she warned others that whoever see her true face beneath her disguise and mask would be unforgivable. Baccarat Blueberry and Selina Strawberry are so far the only people who saw her true form and still lived. Sumireko Hanabusa almost lamp-shaded that Helene has a rather "artistic" look on her face. *'Your Mind Makes It Real:' Invoked when Magilou lamp-shaded that Helene is actually "cute and beautiful with her mask". **''- Helene: Beauty is in the eyes of the beholders. What you see might be deceiving, and it all depends on your crude little mind thing. In addition, please take care of the roses, because they have thorns.'' ''Z Tropes'' Category:TVTropes' LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow